Mum’s got cancer

Hi,

I completely understand how frightened you must be about your mum’s diagnosis. I’m a similar age, and I was diagnosed with Stage 4B ovarian cancer in February 2024. The cancer had spread to lymph nodes under my arm and in my neck. It all came as a complete shock—like a bolt out of the blue.

My symptoms started with abdominal pain in December 2023. I saw my GP in January 2024, and after examining me, she knew immediately that something was seriously wrong. Almost the next day, my abdomen began to swell rapidly—to the point that I looked seven months pregnant. It was full of fluid, known as ascites, which happens when ovarian cancer spreads to the peritoneum (the lining of the abdomen). This can cause the body to produce excess fluid.

I was terrified and completely overwhelmed.

My advice is: try not to look too far ahead. Take it one day at a time. There will be a treatment plan, and once treatment starts, the symptoms can begin to improve very quickly. For me, after my first chemotherapy session, the swelling in my abdomen started going down within days.

I had weekly chemotherapy from April through to the end of July. Then I underwent debulking surgery, which is a major operation where the surgeon removes everything affected—ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, omentum, and any visible cancer inside the abdomen. It sounds very scary, but they were able to remove all visible cancer during my surgery, which gave me a better chance of long-term survival.

After that, I resumed chemotherapy from August to December, and my follow-up scans showed no evidence of disease.

I’m now on targeted therapy every three weeks, which helps keep things stable and I feel absolutely fine.  

I hope you get a plan for your Mums treatment as soon as possible and send my best wishes to both you and your Mum.  

Thank you so much for your response. I found this page only this morning and wrote my post. You replied really quickly and I have pondered on it all day. And I can honestly say it has significantly improved how I have managed the day - you really have helped me so thank you. I’m so sorry you have gone through this and so so happy you’re feeling well now. That’s what i hope and pray for for my mum, thank you again. Sending you love xx

First of all so sorry you are going through this with your mum. I got diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage IV only in April (at age of 33...) so I do really understand the worries and the waiting which is horrible. There's a lot that's similar between me and your mum and please know that there will be a treatment plan, most likely 6 rounds of chemo every 3 weeks plus debulking surgery which was mentioned below, I think that's the standard. I've just had my 3rd chemo last Thursday and waiting to hear more regarding surgery date as it depends on my next CT scan. I know it's hard but it's so important to take it one step at a time at this stage and really try to stay positive for your mum but also accept the fact that you will feel different kind of emotions and thats also ok. I'm keeping everything crossed for you both. Everyone's journey will be a bit different but there's definitely a lot of support that we can give each other. Take care x